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Friday, August 31, 2012

Today I'm excited to give you a sneak peek into one of the projects for Anna Ruth's BIG sister room.

Slowly, but surely this room is coming along!
I find it is sometimes difficult for my time, talents, vision, and $ to all line up at once to get something accomplished as quickly as I'd like.

I'm having to learn to decorate in layers.

A bit here-a bit there. This is SO hard for me to do!

I knew I wanted a banner in one of the corners of Anna Ruth's room.

I must have read the words "Just imagine" somewhere recently because this is what I had on my mind to make. As I've posted before I still print letters/numbers off the computer the "old-fashioned" way, meaning no Cricut! Can I be old-fashioned too and admit I like it this way?

To start I typed the words "Just imagine" in Microsoft Word, using the Poor Richard font.

I changed the font color to a very pale grey.

Next I picked out which paint colors I wanted to use, making sure they coordinated with the fabric I'm using as the focal point of the room. These bottles of paint were only $.57 at my "big" Wal-Mart (not the Neighborhood Market). They were double that at Hobby Lobby, just FYI :).

Grab a skinny paint brush....

(I am loving these. They were around $1.99 for 30 brushes and are perfect to use and throw away.)

and start painting! You will paint over the light grey letters you printed out. This part is tedious, especially if you want to do a good enough job to cut around the letters. I found it relaxing too, though.

Once you're done painting let the letters dry....

and decide how closely you want to cut around the letters, or what shape you want to cut around them.

I decided to leave a thin white border around my letters, to make them stand out even more.

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I am missing a picture for this step, but I then cut out triangle banner pieces from old book pages,

and then glued the letters directly onto the book pages.

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Glue the banner pieces onto jute or string and you're done !
I absolutely loved how this banner turned out and plan on making more for the holidays

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

She has really started to seem like such a big girl! She is learning to communicate in ways that astound me. She loves to imitate animal sounds, wave to people (even those who drive by), do her "all done" sign, clap, sing, say "shhh,shhh" for a dirty diaper.....say "duck-uh", and a word that sounds like "this".

She's also walking more and more.

She's energetic and sweet and ornery and exhausting all at once.

I like the picture above because it speaks volumes to me about loving in the little ways, as well as the big.

For example-when Anna holds a book out (that I've read 10 times that day already)-

read it again! :) with love.

I never know what these two will be up to!

Brett found Anna Ruth's baby doll mittens and dressed up with them.

Something I value as a mama is getting Anna Ruth around other people and out and about to experience new things. One of her favorite places is the library.

She's especially crazy about the Curious George books....

or Curious George in general really!

She loves this little monkey :)

Our library also has puzzles and games that can be checked out.

Anna and I had fun playing with these stacking blocks and brought them home to continue the fun!She enjoys knocking the tower down.

We also have a Farmer's Market nearby our library.

Some days we hike from the library to the market for our morning walk.

Anna Ruth likes to climb on the rocks around the waterfall at the market.

Until her mama has to peel her off the rocks because she wants to sit in the water and splash.

:)

Our days start pretty early around here,

and a favorite phrase I think (and pray for often) lately is "Rise and Shine!"

We felt like kings and queens as we ordered what we wanted off the (expensive) menu.

Our taste buds were delighted!
I had the most delicious pasta dish, with a spicy peanut sauce.
They also play old Frank Sinatra type music here and have dim, romantic lighting.

If you are looking for a real treat (like a once a year treat!) go here!

The atmosphere and food are like none other.

Although there are neat places galore to stay at in Eureka, we decided to stay at a regular hotel. We wanted to save our money for better tasting food instead.......What can I say? We love good food. :)

This Inn was very clean and suited our needs just fine. I'd recommend it too!

We got to sleep as late as we wanted, which turned out to be 7:15. Having a baby changes EVERYTHING. What relaxed bodies we woke up with though! The kind that seeps deep....

We then enjoyed a long walk to Local Flavor, and had a wonderful breakfast.

Next-walking around Eureka, with random photo fun.

In Brett's defense, I "made" him sit up here, like a catalog model. :)

I love this picture.

This makes my heart go pitter-patter.

Of course we had to make a trip to The Daily Roast too (I told you we planned around food!)

The Betsy Grace bump has arrived!

And you bet I am proud, proud, proud!

Still haven't gained near as much weight as with Anna Ruth,

but she's measuring well :)

This busy, sweet little girl could be a reason I don't have as much time to sit around and gain as much weight this time too ;)

Oh my-how I adore being Anna Ruth's mama.

I find that I am at my best (best wife, mom, etc.) when I take time to care for myself.

I'm learning to let God teach me how to relax fully...and often enough that I stay healthy and ready to tackle my days........

This weekend was just that!
I love Brett and value him as a person, not just as a help-mate with our children.

I value his thoughts and heart.

He is so opposite of me and continues to intrigue me.
His looks make my heart race......

I think it's so important to find a way to stay this "in love".

We are about to have two sweet girls watching to see how Mama and Dada love each other, after all.